The Gatherer (Brilliant Darkness 2.5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

her.
    Niran was a Gatherer once, like me. From what little I heard, one endless, warm, gold-and-red autumn she was away from the Cloister much longer than expected. When she returned, she brought not a Gathered daughter but two girls in her belly. She would not speak of how Adar and I came to be there. The other Sisters only knew that she chose to return to the Cloister and deliver her babies here. Twin girls, born rather than Gathered. Surely a rare gift from Mother Asis.
    After weaning, Niran gave Adar and me to the Teachers, and we saw little more of her than any of the other girls.
    There were times as a child that I longed for . . . something. Comfort, maybe. The Teachers were not known for their tenderness.
    I would crawl into the attic of the children's home and out the neglected hole between the rafters and the roof. Never daring to go farther, I'd lie on my stomach along the top of the cool wall surrounding our small compound, hoping for a glimpse of Niran. I rarely saw her, but when I did, the thrill of it sang in my bones for days after.
    The years went by, and I stopped watching for her, stopped hoping she would come for me. I grew up. And I had Adar.
    She will be our new leader, and I will be by her side, helping her defend and advance the Cloister for the next generation of girls kept safe behind the thick walls. Girls like Kaiya.
    The deathwatch continues through the day. All one-hundred or so of the Sisters, save a few who cannot leave their posts, stand by Niran's pallet for hours. P latters of bread and meat are passed, but l ittle is consumed.
    A fire is lit as the mourning sun withdraws. The flames cast a glow over my mother's face, giving her the appearance of warmth and health. It is a trick. Any life left in her ebbs away and by full night is gone.
    Our leader releases her last breath, and eyes turn to Adar. My sister's chin is on her chest; her lips move silently around a prayer to Mother Asis. After a long moment, she lifts her head.
    There is something different in her face now—a steely confidence, a fulfillment of a purpose—that I have not seen before. She seems to grow taller in the span of moments.
    "Wrap her body," she says to the others. "Bring it to the pyre. Alev, come with me."
    Outside, the stars are flecks of precious metal ground by the moon and flung into the night sky to alleviate the darkness of its lonely journey. As we draw near the pyre, the pungent scent of the cut wood brings memories of my own travels alone in the forest. Although I just arrived, I suddenly long to be outside these walls, exploring and answering only to myself again.
    It is a fleeting feeling. Adar and my Sisters are my family, and my place is here with them.
    Adar touches the waiting wood and releases a long breath. I realize she is frightened—frightened but resolute. Only a few years ago we cried in our beds after the Teachers chastised us for some mistake or another. Everything has changed.
    "I need your help, Alev.”
    I search her beloved face. Does she question my loyalty?
    "There are many who would have liked to see Golnar take over," she says. "They fear change, new ideas."
    "Perhaps, but Niran made her choice."
    Uncertainty twists her lips. “I agree with you that the Cloister should not be so isolated from the rest of the world, but I can't alienate those who don't approve. I have to appear neutral. 
You 
must be our mouthpiece with the Sisters and push for the changes we desire."
    I touch her hand. “I will do anything I can.”
    A small smile dances across her mouth and disappears again as footsteps shuffle toward us. Her shoulders straighten.
    "I am ready,” she says softly.
    The others bear Niran’s body among them. Wrapped in soft linen, it glows faintly in the moonlight. Adar and I help place her on the pyre, and a torch is brought forward.
    The wood catches fire, sending the first tendrils of flames around my mother’s body. Her spirit can now join Mother Asis in